


Twilight

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Bladedancer, Gen, Gjallarhorn, Hunter Guardian, Sunbreaker, Twilight Gap, awoken guardians, earthborn awoken, fireteam, gunslinger, tragic backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 18:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6090292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stars sing in your mind. They sang in his mind too.<br/>Three part fic of Eyahn’s first fireteam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Also on Tumblr](http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/118743154773/twilight)

He found her at twilight. The sky was warming with blackness and the stars hummed, preparing their gentle nightly songs.

Eyahn had a Vandal in her sights as she felt his presence approach, felt without seeing the simple existence of another Light. She let the feeling roll off her, an audience was so alien it was of no distraction to her. She was so used to no one being there that it was easy to pretend she was still alone. 

She fired once, headshot, a clean kill. She pulled on the bolt, let the next round fall into the chamber, and cocked the long rifle again. Fired again, again, again. Rhythmic sounds, sharp and secure. Finished the clip, the band of Fallen lying dead across the Mothyards.

She stood from her crouch, reloading without a word. She felt him, still there, behind her. Looming was a word for it but only because of a conspicuous height difference, and she had that problem with everyone.

“You’re a good shot.” He said. She looked back at him and bobbed her head in thanks. Her breath was catching, her face burning. She couldn’t yet speak. The stars above them lifted their songs, shining with the life they had gifted to her. She felt their radiance and drew strength from it.

“Thank you.” Quiet voice, quiet breath, the night was silent and still enough for it to be heard. There was a particular sag of his shoulders, something she thought she remembered her mother doing when cupping a delicate flower in her hands or watching stars fall to earth.

He was a Hunter too, scout rifle in a leisurely grip and a sniper slung over his back. Radiating that content feeling that came with a lull in patrols, when the enemy was sparse and the night fresh. He eyed her pair of long rifles with that calm admiration most Hunters had when meeting others of their class. The unspoken acknowledgment of strengths. Camaraderie in it’s purest form.

She loved that about her vanguard, how easily armored body language could be read and thoughts predicted. No need to stumble over words that she could never find, or search expressions she couldn’t read.

She nodded politely, extracting herself from the situation, and dropped from the tail of the dead flying machine. She landed softly and set off for the corpses. They were far, but not far enough to summon a sparrow, so she strode through the grasses, soaking in the earthly silence and the gusts of song drifting from the stars filling the sky. The night was much more gentle than the day, when the sun blazed it’s tune over all others. Only at night could the distant cousins make their voices heard.

His presence stayed with her, she thought at first it was merely his gaze but when she paused over the first body she heard rustling behind her, of someone stepping quietly through the grass.

She pretended again to be alone, and crouched over the dead Vandal, picking ether sups from it’s collar and inspecting them. All ruptured, the gas escaped.

“Your rifle is too strong.” He couched on the other side of the corpse. “Their heads just explode when you hit them, it ruins the sups. You either need to shoot them somewhere else or use a different gun, one that doesn’t have such a heavy bullet.”

She “mhm”ed so he knew she was still listening, but avoided meeting his gaze, still awkwardly uncertain where the conversation was headed.

He stood back up, took a glance around at all the Fallen bodies. “Kind of an odd problem to have. You’re too good. You got a headshot on every single one. Cept’ the Shanks but I honestly don’t know if they count for or against heads. They haven’t got one, or maybe their whole body is one. What do you think?”

She stood as well and shrugged, trying to consider if it was rude to just leave and look for the next batch of Fallen.

“It’d probably be easiest if you killed them with a knife. You… you a gunslinger then?” He eyed the hand cannon she kept at her hip, even when she was carrying two rifles and couldn’t really use it. She shook her head.

“Ah. Bladedancer. Should be real easy for you then. Just sneak up behind them all invisible-like and get ‘em in the gut.”

Her mind raced on what to say, and in the end she settled for just shrugging again and adding another quiet “Thank you.”

He considered her for a good moment. “Do you want me to show you?”

She took a breath, mustered courage, then nodded affirmatively.

“Alright! Guess we’ll need to find new things to kill, you’ve about cleared this area out.” He looked around, making a decision. “I came from that way, there’s nothing breathing there anymore. Want to head for the shore then?”

He had summoned his ride almost before she nodded. Hot-rod red and blue, idling loudly. She called her own dull ginger Sparrow, quickly kicking the gas and following.

* * *

He was faster than her but she knew the way, and she found him waiting patiently around the final bend in the river. He’d cut the power to his sparrow so it wouldn’t make noise, and was lounging on it with his feet on the handlebars as if he had been waiting a long time. He was probably grinning. He waited for her to dismount, then did a fancy thing where the front of his Sparrow de-matted first, dropping him upright on his feet with little to no effort. His Ghost probably shared his gung-ho attitude then, if they coordinated enough to pull stunts like that.

“Your helmet is pretty creepy you know. Glowing yellow eyes of evil.”

Eyahn shrunk self-consciously inside her hood.

“But like, in a good way.” He added hurriedly. “You’re really quiet too.”

“Sorry.” She said.

“No, don’t ever apologize. You do you.”

His assurances gave her pause, she felt uncertain how to respond.

“Come on, Ghost’s got some Fallen contacts by the ships. Lets get ‘em.”

She made for her hand cannon.

“Good call.” He checked the clip on his scout rifle. “Let’s not use sniper rifles when we’re trying to get you sups.”

His chatter was still unsettling. He was responding to her motions, talking to them as if they were her half of the conversation. They were her half. She had never communicated like this before, never met anyone who was content to do all the talking, as well as take the time to listen to her. it was… disarming. But pleasant.

He tossed his rifle back and forth, humming a strange, bouncy tune. The safety was still on, she noticed. He gave it some spin and a higher arc, tossing it from his left hand to his right, and almost dropped it. He caught it before it bounced off a rock and clutched it tightly, hunching his shoulders in embarrassment. “Whoops.”

She allowed a single bubbling giggle to slip out. He perked up at the sound and stuck out his chest, evidently proud of himself.

“I’ll take that as the lady’s approval.” He bowed deeply, theatrically. Eyahn glanced away and fiddled with the hem of her hood, unable to fathom how to respond to that display. He took the cue. Checked the clip on his rifle again. “Shall we be going?”

She waited a moment, and when he didn’t take point, set off on her own. Relief, because she knew how to deal with this situation. She dispatched a couple of Dregs with a pair of slugs to their temples. The sound of the shots were met with the roar of a scout Vandal in the distance.

“Well, they know we’re here.” She ignored his comment, not out of malice but because it was a statement, and didn’t warrant a reply.

They moved forward together, yet a few paces apart. Close enough to rez one another but separate enough that each had their own groups of enemies within range. She was sure and solid efficiency, a bullet for each target. Once they laid eyes on her their eye saw no more. She didn’t give them time to aim. He was equally effective in his own way, firing in bursts and waves, alternating shots in enemies that rushed him, keeping them at bay. It took him three to four rounds to kill- but only one for a shank- and each bullet did double duty of wounding and stunning his enemies. And he was fast, in the time it took for a Vandal to recover from a single shot to the chest, he had already shot it’s two buddies and was lined up to take another pop at the vermin.

They cleared the pair of rusting skeleton ships without the enemy landing a single shot.

She began inspecting the bodies, finding unruptured ether capsules. He watched her gather what she needed.

“There we go! Your sups my lady.” She jumped when he clapped his hand on her shoulder, shying away from the touch.

“Sorry.” They both said together. He started to say, “No, no-” but in her anxious state she reached out to the light, summoned her Ghost. Little Star blinked at her, blinked at him, and with a disappointed eye-roll pulled Eyahn to orbit.

“You shouldn’t have left, things were going well.” Star said gently. Eyahn curled up in the pilot’s seat, too embarrassed to speak.

And she had forgotten to say “thank you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stars sing their nightly songs. Sing of love and songs of kindness.

It was weeks before she saw him again.

When she did it was at the tower. She was in the courtyard tree at twilight, curled high in the branches. She watched humans and exos pass beneath without noticing her, save one human warlock who glanced around as if something bothered her.

The Awoken though, they could feel stars. And Awoken Guardians were stars, bodies pumped full of Light. Some would crane their necks to look for her, others would just smile and nod in her general direction.

One stopped. Made no indication that he knew she was there but he had to. Had to. Light gold hair and blue skin.

And then in an instant he leapt up the trunk, in a lunge that startled a squeak out of her and set Banshee into a grumbling tirade about those crazy Hunters.

His rush took him up most of the tree, but the branches she had slithered herself past were too thick and too fragile for him to join her so he perched a little below her, beaming. She knew who he was. He moved like Him and smiled like she had suspected He had.

“Hey.” He said. “It’s you isn’t it.” He stuck out a hand for shaking. She blinked at it.

“Yep.” He drew his hand back. “That’s you alright. How you been? Gosh your eyes are pretty, they look just like your helmet does. My names Seph by the way.”

Her lips parted, but otherwise none of her moved. He waited for her to think and respond. She wavered between unsureness of what to say and a nagging fear that she had waited too long and now shouldn’t speak at all.

She mustered the courage and took the leap, spoke the first words that she could wrap her head around. The ones she had forgotten to say before.

“Thank you. I am Eyahn.”

He beamed.

“So.” Seph said, settling himself on his branch better, bouncing a little. “You have a lot of Light in you. Like, a lot.” He acted like he expected a response but by now seemed to know he wasn’t going to get one, so he raced on to his point. “It’s like you don’t use arc abilities at all. Do you?”

Direct question. No diffusion. No escape.

She shook her head. She wasn’t sure why he was asking though, it was evident he already knew the answer.

“Did you ever learn how to use them? Any at all?” She bit her lip and averted her gaze. He accepted that for an answer and… paused.

“You’re kinda new then. Can’t be too new because you are a damn good shot.” Seph studied her. She felt it. It made her uncomfortable.

“Do you wanna learn?” He asked finally.

Did she? What was there even to learn? No one had ever told her what her other abilities were, though Andal had told her they existed when she had joined the Hunter Vanguard.

She was disarmed by the question, an opinion based question. He asked what she wanted. Did she even know what she wanted? It had been so long since there were decisions to make, a path to create. What choices had come from the past were based on bare survival.

What did she want?

Starlight was beginning to trickle through the leaves. Her galaxy, two and a half million light years away, raised its voice in haunting song. The night came, and with the night came her courage.

“Yes.” She said, a whisper of a breath, then with a nervous shudder she said it again, louder, stronger. “Yes. Thank you.”

* * *

“Okay, let’s start with the most staple bladedancer skill. Vanish.” He knelt down in the grasses of the steppes, a twilight breeze rustling around them. He patted the ground urging her to do the same.

Eyahn settled down onto her heels.

“All you do is hold still, perfectly still, and will yourself to disappear. Close your eyes if it helps. Breathe out…”

She did, locked all her muscles in place, squeezed shut her eyes. Held her breath a moment, then breathed out…

She didn’t feel anything, had it worked?

“No, not like that, you have to relax. Fade away.” She felt something, and opened her eyes to his hand hovering near her arm, like he wanted to touch her but at the same time knew it would have startled her. She shifted away from it, slowly, deliberately. He let his arm drop.

“Imagine it, imagine disappearing. Let yourself go.”

Eyahn closed her eyes again, but relaxed, let her stillness come from resting muscles, not angsty clenched ones. She breathed again, and this time there was a pop in her ears, and she felt cooler, lighter.

She opened her eyes to the cosmodrome, but distorted, as if seeing it through glass. She felt disorientated, and realized it was because she couldn’t see herself. Her arms and knees looked like they were made of the clearest, purest water.

“There you go.” Seph breathed from beside her. She turned slowly to look at him, fearing sudden movement would jerk her from her trance. 

She didn’t see him for a moment, until he moved. He was water too. Her brain saw more movement, something reaching towards her. She studied the form to see it was his hand, palm up in offering.

She reaches out slowly to grasp it, but the moment they touched her concentration broke and she was back in the flesh in a shower of color.

“It’s okay.” He squeezed her hand, returning to reality a few seconds later as well. “It doesn’t last forever and it takes practice to keep it up longer. That was actually very good for a first try.”

“Thank you.” She said, and detangled her hand from his.

“We can try something else now, or…” He got a response as she breathed and vanished again.

He sat back with a laughing sigh and a smile on his voice. “Sure. Or we can keep trying this.”

* * *

“Thought you didn’t want a girlfriend Seph!”

A huge hand clamped each of their backs. Eyahn squeaked with surprise, something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately. It drew a fit of laughter from both Seph and the newcomer, and lavender blush to her own face.

“My god she’s tiny. You told me you didn’t want kids either! What the hell’re you doing with this one?”

He was still chuckling, egging the other on, much to Eyahn’s embarrassed dismay.

“Not like that Lini. She’s my second.”

“Yeah? When did you decide to settle down, you never wanted to settle down with me!”

“Oh my god Lini.”

He punched her in the shoulder to absolutely no consequence since she was quite larger than he was, and very much a Titan. She was human, with night-skin as dark as the black armor she wore. She was an obsidian monolith beside the two Hunters.

“I’m her mentor. We’ve gone out a couple times now. Andal approved.”

“Andal approves everything Hunter related.”

“He’s supposed to, he’s the Vanguard.”

“Ha! Tell that to Zavala.”

“Sour grapes.”

“Shut up.” She finally turned her eyes like gently burning coals on the little Hunter. “You’re cute though. He coulda done worse.”

Her cheeks felt like they were being sunburned from the inside out. Lini noticed.

“Hey. Hey, I kid. Its what I do.” She bent down in an oddly respectful way, one that didn’t make Eyahn feel like she was being looked down upon. “If I tease ya, I like ya. But don’t worry! Not like that.” She hurriedly assured her. “I go for tall girls.”

“And short guys.” Seph piped up.

“Yeah.” She confirmed. “So its a wonder I never liked him.”

He pouted playfully.

“What I’m saying is sorry.” Lini finished. “In a lot more words. Okay?”

Relief, surging up and drowning out the discomfort.

“Okay.” She said. “Thank you.”

“Atta girl!” Lini clamped her in an awkward, uncomfortable hug, her armor clacking more on itself than on Eyahn’s tiny frame. “We’re gonna be great friends!”

* * *

“Blink.” He said and he was gone.

She thought she had, thought she’d blinked and lost him. Had he vanished? She couldn’t see any watery outline. But a flash, a rush of air, and a half second later he reappeared a few feet back from where he had started.

She did blink now, blinked her long lashes in surprise behind the eyes of her helmet.

“Teleport.” He explained, a grin on his voice. “A technique stolen from the Warlocks. I don’t worry about you telling them that because I don’t worry about you talking at all.”

Eyahn crossed her arms in a fake pout, as she had seen Lini do many times in response to that kind of tone.

The rush of air again and he was suddenly startlingly right in front of her. She jumped and he grasped her shoulders.

“Are you okay?! Are you ill?!” He looked her all over, poking at her ribs and pretending to check her head, despite it being covered by a helmet. The attention quickly made her uncomfortable and she pulled away.

“I’m sorry, I’m just worried!” He exclaimed, holding up his hands as if to defend himself. “I thought something was wrong with you, you actually physically showed emotion!”

She had to pause and think a moment to understand he was joking with her, and when she had, she playfully punched him in the arm.

“Owie!” He complained, shrinking back and clutching it, pretending to be hurt. “You wound me. Please stop spending so much time with Lini.”

“I am only with her when we are both.” She retorted with definite tones of indignation.

“Emotion and words today! Yahtzee, we’re on a hot streak.”

She snorted a short breath and rolled her eyes. She was being more expressive but she was enjoying it, she was being understood.

* * *

“What’s your star?” He asked.

They were in the tower plaza at twilight, stretched out in the grass below the tree all Hunters learned to climb. Seph, at least, was stretched out, lounging. Eyahn contrarily had her arms wrapped around her legs, all tucked up to her chest.

“If it’s okay to ask.” He continued. “You’re earthborn right? Like me. I know it’s personal, especially for a Guardian-”

“Andromeda.” She interrupted. She hunched her shoulders and buried her chin in her knees, her hood falling a little lower on her forehead.

“Wow.” He said, quieter for once. “A whole galaxy. Your parents must have had dreams for you.”

She nodded, a movement that bobbed her head and neck and shoulders, making her hood and cloak rustle.

“Mine is Orion. Yeah, the whole constellation.” He gave a snorting laugh. “Some of the stars are younger than others and try to outsing their siblings. They crave attention. But I understand, I had a bunch of brothers once.“

It was a terrible, gut-jaring offhand comment, one that spoke of great loss. But before Eyahn had a chance to sympathise he had changed the subject. "How does it sound to have an entire galaxy sing to you?”

“A harmony.” She replied after a moment’s pause. “They blend together as one.”

“It must be very loud.”

“No. But it is strong. I want to be too.”

“You are strong, it’s why I asked for you.”

“Thank you.” She said, receding into her hood with a blush, but also a smile.

* * *

She drew the rainbow blade, sparking with new energy. Drew on the Light of her birthstars, glittering in the twilight. Drew on the Light of her Ghost, her own Little Star. Drew it all in and set it aflame. Each step was a lightyear. She leapt and bounded across the hill, dancing from Shank to Vandal to Dreg, each slash a beautiful fatality. It was over in mere seconds, the Light left her, standing breathless and giddy in the wake of an aurora of destruction of her own making. She panted, not from exertion but adrenaline, trying to calm the fire that still danced inside.

Seph started clapping, the sound sharp and loud like sniper fire in her heightened state of awareness. Her energy converted to joy and she turned on him, grinning widely beneath her helmet, wider than she could ever remember smiling. He could tell somehow and laughed heartily as she threw herself into his arms, spinning her around in a hug.

“Look what you’ve done! I am the proudest mentor on the planet right now!”

She laughed, a sound that overjoyed him, and he clutched her even tighter in surprise.

“Thank you.” She beamed, letting the hug go on and on. “Thank you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stars cry at Twilight, and she cries with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find it on tumblr here: http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/120459413058/twilight

Alone on the Wall at twilight, the Traveler at her back. Staring at the distant, blurred fires of the battle, obeying her orders but for the first time wishing they were different.

“Don’t worry.” He said over the comms channel their ghosts maintained. “The Warlocks are doing something. I can feel the light bending to their will. The Darkness will be no match for them.”

She could feel it too, and see it as well. From her perch on the inner wall, the fog around the Gap glowed with pulsing Light.

“And if they are attacked while distracted?” Eyahn asked.

“The Titans defend them from in front, we Hunters from behind. The battle is rough but we’re pulling through.”

The line dropped for a moment, and her breath caught. Little Star worked furiously to get the channel back online.

Seph’s voice returned. “It’s okay, I’m here. Vandal got me from behind but Lini rezzed me. Always nice to have a Titan at your back.”

Eyahn felt chills in her spine.

She didn’t hear Lini boasting in the background, heard only the sounds of a firefight. Lini never let anyone live down a death.

If Lini was with him in the back then the Titans had broken their line. They only resorted to that when there was no other hope.

And if he was attacked in the back of the line then the Fallen had rounded behind them.

The Warlock’s fires were beginning to flicker in the haze on the horizon. They were dying. Their Guardians were dying.

Seph was dying.

“I should come.” She said

“Only if the Vanguard call you to. We’ll be alright. Don’t worry.” It was as if he thought she couldn’t hear the shots in the background.

“Okay.”

“I’ll stay on the channel, keep you updated.”

“Thank you.” She said.

She would regret the decision to wait for the rest of her lives.

* * *

He stops talking, mid sentence. The channel closes, severed at his end again. It does not reopen.

She waits, watching the Warlocks’ light-fires dying, dying.

And in a single heartbeat, she leaps from her perch, blinking as quickly as she can. There was no thought, no contemplation, no decision, just a sudden instinct to MOVE. Get to him, get to him now, he’s been silent too long… Too long… Too late.

When she hears gunfire she draws her hand canon. She blinks forward a half dozen times more and sees them retreating, sees Guardians and ghosts furiously trying to transmat back to safety as Fallen overrun their positions. The air hums, filled with skiffs and jumpships. The skiffs fire on anything that moves, metal screeches and falls from the sky.

A Warlock is crushed by a falling ship. It’s Ghost is struck as well, the small form slammed into the ground by twisted metal. Eyahn dashes forward to it, pulls the debris off, cradles it as its light flickers and dies, its geometry falling away.

She lets it go.

“We have to go back.” Little Star speaks only when necessary, reason enough to make Eyahn pause and listen. “It is done, the battle is lost.”

“No.” She is firm. She stands and races forward, through the flames, towards the warehouse.

Fallen were in her way. She drew the rainbow blade.

She dances with the Light, dances around the Dark. Slices away what tries to stop her but more than anything else races forward, forward, as far as it would carry her. When the Light leaves her she finds herself in the wake of death, dozens of Fallen dead where her blade touched them.

There were still more ahead. Seph is further ahead.

“Turn back!” Star is insistent, as is the Titan that barrels down at her.

“Move!” He shouts, and when she stiffens and holds her course he sticks out an arm and catches her around the middle, lifting her up from the ground. He keeps shouting orders to the others over open channels. “Retreat! Let them have it. Fall back, defend the Walls!” He doesn’t let her go.

For the first time in her life she screams. Kicks and howls and beats on his shoulder with little fists. He holds her fast, keeps moving back to the Wall, back to the City, away from Seph. She screams his name and sobs without tears. Little Star is telling the Titan carrying her that Seph is dead, Seph is dead for good don’t let her go back. Little Star is lying, she has to be. Lying. Lying.

She exhausts her strength and clutches the Titan’s arm, shuddering with confused emotions. They get far enough from the fight that the air is mostly quiet. He feels secure enough to stow his rifle on his back and devote both arms to carrying her. She feels caged. She feels safe. She feels broken. She presses her head into his collar and he rocks her gently, humming softly. The vibrations drift through his armor and hers, soothing her hiccuping sobs.

Others join them, walking warily through the twilight forest, thick with the smoke drifting down the hill. Little Star asks why he doesn’t just transmat. His ship was shot down with the rest.

A Ghost bobs past, drifting weakly, searching the faces. It sets it’s sights on a desolate Warlock with a tattered robe. She gasps when it floats in front of her, catches it in her hands. It blinks something at her and she lets out a wail, dropping to her knees. She clutches the little Ghost to her chest, her own companion appearing at her shoulder. The Warlock sobbs, her body shaking. Another stops beside her and puts his hand on her shoulder, waiting patiently.

“You see?” Eyahn’s Titan rumbled. “You aren’t the only one to lose someone. The universe wasn’t out to hurt you. It just happened.”

She gave no response for a long time, didn’t even move. But she felt like she needed to say something, and after a while, said the only words she could think of.

“Thank you.”

He rumbled a “Mmm” in his throat. She could feel it from where her head rested on his chest. “They took more than just the Gap today. But the fort, at least, can be taken back.”

Three days later when he was massing a force to do so, she volunteered.

* * *

She didn’t care that the others were looking down at her, but she still knew that they were. She knew they had her pegged for dead before they had even set out to retake the Gap. She was small and frail-looking and only Seph had ever seemed to feel the strength there was in her size.

Only Seph and this Titan.

Lord Shaxx was huge for a Titan and she was small for a Hunter but the way he looked down to her without looking down at her made her know he understood. He felt the demon in her, forged in twilight, felt the boiling of the most potent emotions she had ever known.

He nodded and told the Vanguard. “Yes. I’ll take that one too.”

“Thank you.” She said. Still quiet, but for her, it was the loudest roar of an Ahamkara.

His light was gone. His armor remained. Lini’s was nearby, sprawled out like she had fought tooth and nail even as her light died. She almost certainly had.

Eyahn looked down at them. It was as if she had forgotten they were gone in the few days that had passed. Forgotten the last time that channel closed.

She remembered their laughter. Two days before the Gap in the Hunter’s lounge in the hangar. Someone had threatened Lini for being a Titan down there in the Hunter’s place and she had threatened them to an arm wrestle. The accuser had backed off and Lini had laughed at him, and Seph had laughed with her.

“Thats a good thing to remember.” Little Star spoke and Eyahn suddenly realized she had been speaking aloud in her helmet. She clamped her jaw shut.

“These yours?” Asked another voice, a tired voice. There was a man beside her, she was too numb to look. Lord Shaxx arrived at her other shoulder. She knew him by his voice.

“Yes. They’re hers.” He confirmed. Her what? He continued. “She cleared the whole courtyard to get to them. They’re hers.”

“Okay.” The other man said. “Okay. One for her too.”

“She did not necessarily fight in the initial battle. She was present near the end…”

“The entire courtyard you say? Close enough, I say. Close enough. She’s got the same grief as anyone else.”

“Come on Hunter.” Shaxx spoke to her now. “Come on home, Feizel will help them rest.”

She wanted to say thank you, but did not want to speak lest more memories like laughter came out. So she nodded and let herself be led away, sneaking glances back until she was around a corner and out of sight.

* * *

They handed her the weapon.

“Thank you.” She said. Hollow still.

She couldn’t carry it for three days. It was heavy with souls. When finally she was able to heft it to her shoulder, she knew he was truly gone to the stars. She went to the Mothyards at twilight and took aim at his constellation and sent the rockets into the sky, sent them racing towards him. They exploded before they reached.

When the Fallen rose from their posts at the sound she lit herself with blue fire and ripped through them all. She burned, his little star, his star that danced on the earth.


End file.
